She "picked" a good place to live and observe the flow of time and events where she directly wouldn't be affected by various negative events throughout the century of her life.
As an immigrant, I thought this was a missed opportunity. In my head this is what it means to be a local.
My wife on the other hand has been migrating for so long that she has no ties to any land. Not of her forefathers which she has never been to. Not of her grandfather which she also has never been to. Nor of her fathers given that he hates the place. still has longing for the land of her childhood but she is not allowed to go back to. And now she is here, too detached to continue to live in the same place as us.
Many times, I have mentioned how things have changed in the last century, how most of the things we make use of now were developed and refined in the last 100 years - industrial machinery, communications, computers …
There’s a simpleness to her experience. She is most definitely a beneficiary of society. She has lived comfortably without the need to understand how everything works; and hasn’t had the curiosity to question.
I’m not sure I have a point, but I do personally find it a little disappointing to have someone who lived through so much without having the ability to discuss it at depth.
Lobsters are long-lived, they don't age (in the sense of slowly losing their fitness - senescence) and they only die when they grow too big and suffocate during moulting, or possibly catch some infection, or get killed by other animals/people.
A 105 y.o. lobster is plausible.
A much under-appreciated blessing. At any age.
Over the past half-ish century, I've visited any number of elderly relatives and friends who were living in the US's long-term care facilities. However bright the decor, or kind the care staff - there is a very bleak "people whose ability to do anything useful has died, waiting for the rest of death" aura to them.
Reason one is that I should learn to chill out and relax.
Reason two is that I know old age will hit me very hard once I feel “useless” and I should prepare for that
You don't need to rewire your core, just look things from right perspective.
Right now, yes, its true that a lot of my day to day purpose is driven by participating in the economy and setting myself up for the life I'd like to have in my later years, and I get genuine validation from solving problems and collaborating with people in my day job.
But sometimes, my purpose is to go snowboarding and forget about work. Or to help a friend fix their bicycle. Or to get lost in conversation with a new person I'm dating. As far as any of us know, we only get one turn to be alive on this rock, so we might as well purposefully enjoy it as much as we try to purposefully be useful.
If you look at Ginny Oliver from the article, it might be fair to question whether she was as useful on a lobster boat at 105 as she might have been in her youth. But I doubt she was concerned with usefulness since she had such sense of purpose.
Calling this a blessing in the larger context is unconscionable. The USA is the richest country in the world. If someone needs to work into their 100s, it is a sign of failure from our political leaders.
Additionally, "working" and "having a purpose" should not be conflated like this. These are separate things.
Also, wages in the US have not stagnated at all. Wage growth in the poorest quartile has outpaced inflation and that of the other 3 quartiles.
Perhaps this is a bit of projection by the British Guardian.
I don't wonder why public discourse is the way that it is.
My other grandpa is a retired design engineer, extremely handy, and while his body is failing from Parkinson’s, in his 80s he’s still smart as a whip. He was working around his farm until he hit 80 when his wife started displaying dementia signs.
I still call him up any time I need advice on fixing stuff round the house or my car.
* I just pulled up a family video of several kids, mine, my siblings, friends, making commercial marbles for sale pulling glass from a furnace and rolling them on a bench, using optic moulds, canes for decoration, etc .. at the age of five.
Sure, we weren't running them like chimney sweeps or coal mine donkeys 24/7 - that's what they wanted to do for pocket money - make their own, how ever many, and sell them.
I can say that Sandy over the road (now deceased, made it to 94) was hitching bullocks to sled a water tank to a spring and back every morning setting out at 4am from the age of five or so - both his parents died of influenza just a few years later.
My own father, (still alive, born 1935) was shooting and trapping rabbits at that age to feed the family.
Sounds like something from an MLM seminar. "Telling's not selling!"
But sure, it's highly likely that she headed out with a parent or older sibling initially. This doesn't seem controversial or worth making quibbly points over.
The last Tuesday we got back and she said "That was too hard. I think that was the last one." I agreed, and thought I'd call her next tuesday just the same and see if she'd changed her mind. But there was no 'next tuesday'.
Anyway, life is a gift and I miss her and Tuesday doesn't come but I feel the gap.
After my mother passed, I found an old essay talking about when her father (my grandfather) passed. She wrote that the last time we saw him, he seemed to know something was up, and then died that night.
My other grandfather figured it out after a blood test determined that he only had a few days left. His kids (including my dad) weren't going to tell him. He was 102 and otherwise healthy. Then, he wheeled himself across the nursing home into the meeting with the social worker, and announced the funeral home, church, and cemetery that his arrangements were with. He had such a big smile too. He "won" and couldn't ask for anything more.
It's unfortunate that this publication decides to go hard on politics no matter what the feel-good story behind the article is. This Ginny lady clearly said that she loved banding lobsters and wanted to do it for as long as she could. It had nothing to do with working into her old age because she needed the money. Obviously that is a real issue, but has nothing to do with this story.
I like this news website better: https://www.positive.news/
At least it doesn't try to snipe me into feeling bad, or scared about everything.
That's the guardian for you. They can't write an article without making sure the reader comes away feeling like a piece of shit. This piece should just be a celebration of Ginny's remarkable life, but they'll still make sure that you know that there are kids starving in Africa and elderly people working past retirement because they have no money.
I also love positive.news, and I subscribe to their newsletter. It's great.
havaloc•1w ago
Aeolun•1w ago
interloxia•1w ago
The lack of movement rather than rich stimulation might remain the issuem I look forward to a study if there hasn't been one yet.
zdragnar•1w ago
interloxia•1w ago
bell-cot•1w ago
hackeraccount•1w ago
Anyhow Lillian broke an ankle. Went to hospital. And there was some complication. And then another. And 2 weeks later she's passed away, never having gotten out of the hospital.
I think people - especially when you're old - are more like sharks then not. If you don't keep moving nothing good happens.
somenameforme•1w ago
[1] - https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/news/nov1025.pdf
avadodin•1w ago
pepy•1w ago